1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle management system.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a conventional system of this type, there is, for example, such a system as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-311220. In this conventional system, an IC card on which a memory chip or the like is mounted is employed as a driving license, while a terminal to which the driving license having the IC card or a similar function is inserted is provided in a vehicle. Further, human body authentication information detection means for detecting human body authentication information such as a fingerprint, iris, and the like of a driver is provided in the vehicle, while information which represents human body authentication information of an owner of the driving license is stored in the memory of the driving license having the IC card or the similar function. When the human body authentication information of the driver and the human body authentication information described or stored in the driving license do not coincide with each other and the contents of the driving license do not correspond to the vehicle to be driven, the operation cannot be conducted.
Therefore, there is no one who can drive the vehicle other than a specified person such as the owner of the vehicle or the like, which enables to prevent theft of the vehicle and the like.
However, since the IC card or the like is employed in the above system, a person who wishes to drive the vehicle needs to get in and conduct operation of the vehicle. Since the person who wishes to drive the vehicle is different from the person who permits the drive enabling state of the vehicle according to the operation, there has been a problem that the above system cannot be applied in a case where an operator is far from the vehicle.
Further, in the conventional system, when the operator is far from the vehicle, he/she cannot be aware of the status of the vehicle. For example, when the vehicle is stolen, the operator cannot immediately be aware of the status.
It is a first object of the present invention to provide a vehicle management system which enables an operation of a vehicle even when an operator is far from the vehicle, and can determine the status of the vehicle even when the operator is far from the vehicle.